Beyond skin deep (The Providence Phoenix, 07/09/13)

The giant fabric breasts clustered on the floor are the first thing you notice when you visit Raquel Paiewonsky’s great show, “im propia,” at Yellow Peril Gallery (60 Valley St, Providence, through July 14). The Dominican artist’s Bitch Balls: Mentirosas are 12 beach balls upholstered in shades of creamy white and suede tan and chocolaty brown. The nipples are long and upright like traffic cones.

There are many breasts here, and lots of hair, as well as a few penises. It’s the body disembodied, turned beach ball fun and sexy and a bit strange so that you can feel it afresh. With echoes of feminist and African-American art — in particular the sculptures Senga Nengudi made in the 1970s with fleshy pantyhose stretched, twisted, and bulging, in places, with sand.